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Thursday, 12 February 2015

Bespoke tales - from Shilpa

I've been getting a lot of custom orders lately.. When I am working on new products, I tend to photograph them exclusively for putting them up on the website. But when it comes to custom orders, there are so many pictures that go back and forth on whatsapp and on email that I forget to keep them somewhere safe for posterity. I do post them on facebook but then old posts go into the oblivion and I don't trust fb much. Initially I thought I should upload them on drive so that I can refer to them in the future on days that I am looking for inspiration. But then I thought what's the use of a blog that is not updated regularly. Mostly I lack ideas to write about but writing about these custom orders will be fun.

So the first big order I received was in December 2014 from my cousin Shilpa who lives in New Jersey. She ordered 35 pairs of earrings to be made. You may wonder if she suddenly decided to revamp her accessories and fill her earring holders with all Koyri items. Although I 'll be happy to do that for her, but sadly no. She planned to order them for gifting. The Indian custom of haldi kumkum cermonies that happen all through January after Sankrant follow the ritual of giving gifts also known as vaan () to all ladies who are invited for the ceremony. The gift could be anything a comb, a handkerchief, a purse or simply a packet of tea powder. Shilpa tai wanted to something more thoughtful and decided to introduce Koyri to her friends and relatives in the US of A. And I was more than happy about it. :)
After exchanging thousands of messages (thank god for whatsapp) and dozens of pictures, we finalised on 4 types of earrings in different quantities mounting up to 36 in number.

Out of the 36 earrings, 20 were hoops and another 10 required kidney hooks. And only after finalising this did I realise that I had completely run out of both hoops and kidney hooks. I thought I will walk into the local store and buy them but they too had run out of it. That is when I panicked!!! I knew buying online would take a lot longer and I was already running short of time. That's when Kalaivani, a supplier from Chennai came to my rescue. She sent it over to me in 3 days flat!

That was when my mom, my ever enthusiastic helper, sat up late in the night to help me finish the order. Luckily one of her friend was visiting India and happened to be in Pune. She happily obliged to carry the parcel with her all the way to the US. I had to take extra care that it was securely bubble wrapped but not so much that it will be a problem to open in case customs officials get suspicious.
Thankfully no such thing happened and the parcel reached shilpa tai intact. She was so happy to finally receive it after so much anticipation. :)

Here is a picture she uploaded on facebook where all the earrings are cosily sitting in pouches and ready to be distributed.

She also put up a picture of her and her friends at the function. I am going to ask her permission so that you guys are able to see it too. :)
ETA: She said yes, so here she is posing with her friends all dressed up and looking gorgeous.

Bye bye until I write about the next very interesting custom order. :)